A left-wing anarchist director hands down a camera to the female lead singer of an extreme right-wing punk-rock band. This film is amazing. The growth of the girl. The portrayal of the current generation in Japan. The performance of the band which is entertaining in it's own right. It is a movie about a live human being and how she develops in a society which is "choking in peace and stability". It is a film about seeking ones place in a society. In believing in something. Even if that something is a concept such as an emperor. It also touches upon the different political stances between the portrayed and the portrayer, who actually takes a very active part during this movie. This is the way to make movie. Put a camera out into the world and let the world play with it, and all the while aiming at something and making that something develop. Indirectly directing. Oh, and this is in someways a love story as well. The pacing is slow. It is mainly the girl talking to the camera, but it also includes sequences of North Korea and of course the shocking live performances of the band. The Japanese DVD includes English subtitles. Enjoy it!
2 Reviews
Make a Cake
Meganeguard21 January 2005
Warning: Spoilers
I first viewed this film almost two years ago when my University was holding an Asian film festival. I enjoyed it, but I really did not think that much of it at the time. However, after a considerable amount of reading on Japanese leftist and rightist groups and being exposed to the historical revisionist manga of Kobayashi Yoshinori, I was better equipped to appreciate this documentary.
The documentary follows the life of Amamiya Karin, lead singer of the ultra-rightist punk band The Revolutionary Truth, for around three months. Early on in the film the viewer witnesses a performance by the band in which Amamiya sings about how Japan was forced to go to war and the evils of the United States. She sings in a very harsh voice and one can feel her outrage towards the boring peace of modern Japan that makes he want to puke. However, is this the real Amamiya or just the persona she shows on stage.
Given a digital video camera by the director, Amamiya records her thoughts on being an ultra-nationalist in private or with the aid of the Revolutionary Truth's band leader, the bassist Ito Hidehito. What the viewer learns is that Amamiya was tormented by her classmates and attempted suicide several times in order to draw attention to herself. As she grew older she became interested in visual kei music and eventually discovered the band headed by Ito who introduced her to ultra rightist ideology.
While Amamiya seems to be completely devoted to the right wing, what becomes evident is the fact that she joined the right wing in order to find a group to which she could belong and to have someone spell out to her what was right and what was wrong so she did not have to think for herself. She oftentimes throughout the film states that she does not have a self and that she needs the Emperor or the Right Wing Party to give her a semblance of stability.
The director Tsuchiya Yutaka, on the other hand hates the Emperor system and feels that it is the cause of the misery Japan faced during the Pacific War and that it should be dissolved. He follows Amamiya and Ito around and asks them several questions about why they joined the rightist and one can see the cracks that he makes in Ito and Amamiya's relationship.
_The New God_ is a fascinating film. Not only does it give the viewer a good view of the ultra right movement in Japan, but there also a number of short interviews that chronicles the boredom and malaise that many feel in modern day Japan. If one is a reader of Murakami Haruki, one should be quite familiar with this concept.
Amamiya is a fascinating individual. She is energetic and comedic, but she also shows the struggles of a young person, she was 23 when this film was made, trying to find his or her place in society. One on the most fascinating parts of the film is when Amamiya along with a man named Shiomi, who use to be the leader of the Japanese Red Army, travel to North Korea. Although he is an ultra leftist and she is an ultra rightist, he believes they are united against Imperial America.
If you can come across it, the Japanese DVD has very good English subtitles.
The documentary follows the life of Amamiya Karin, lead singer of the ultra-rightist punk band The Revolutionary Truth, for around three months. Early on in the film the viewer witnesses a performance by the band in which Amamiya sings about how Japan was forced to go to war and the evils of the United States. She sings in a very harsh voice and one can feel her outrage towards the boring peace of modern Japan that makes he want to puke. However, is this the real Amamiya or just the persona she shows on stage.
Given a digital video camera by the director, Amamiya records her thoughts on being an ultra-nationalist in private or with the aid of the Revolutionary Truth's band leader, the bassist Ito Hidehito. What the viewer learns is that Amamiya was tormented by her classmates and attempted suicide several times in order to draw attention to herself. As she grew older she became interested in visual kei music and eventually discovered the band headed by Ito who introduced her to ultra rightist ideology.
While Amamiya seems to be completely devoted to the right wing, what becomes evident is the fact that she joined the right wing in order to find a group to which she could belong and to have someone spell out to her what was right and what was wrong so she did not have to think for herself. She oftentimes throughout the film states that she does not have a self and that she needs the Emperor or the Right Wing Party to give her a semblance of stability.
The director Tsuchiya Yutaka, on the other hand hates the Emperor system and feels that it is the cause of the misery Japan faced during the Pacific War and that it should be dissolved. He follows Amamiya and Ito around and asks them several questions about why they joined the rightist and one can see the cracks that he makes in Ito and Amamiya's relationship.
_The New God_ is a fascinating film. Not only does it give the viewer a good view of the ultra right movement in Japan, but there also a number of short interviews that chronicles the boredom and malaise that many feel in modern day Japan. If one is a reader of Murakami Haruki, one should be quite familiar with this concept.
Amamiya is a fascinating individual. She is energetic and comedic, but she also shows the struggles of a young person, she was 23 when this film was made, trying to find his or her place in society. One on the most fascinating parts of the film is when Amamiya along with a man named Shiomi, who use to be the leader of the Japanese Red Army, travel to North Korea. Although he is an ultra leftist and she is an ultra rightist, he believes they are united against Imperial America.
If you can come across it, the Japanese DVD has very good English subtitles.
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